The man accused of stabbing a Paterson imam during morning prayers at a city mosque Sunday morning told police he wanted to kill the man over religious differences, court documents show.During a brief virtual court appearance from the Bergen County Jail on Monday, Zorba spoke through a Turkish-language interpreter and at times appeared confused…Immediately after his arrest, Zorba told police “he planned the attack the night prior at his home on his own due to his disagreeing with the mosque and its leader collecting money in the name of Islam,” the officer wrote.

The stabbing occurred a day after the discovery of an act of vandalism at the Dr. Hani Awadallah School in Paterson. A vandal defaced the “allah” part of the Awadallah’s name. “Allah” means “God” in Arabic.

Serif Zorba, 32, had been attending prayer services at the Mevlana Cami, a mosque on Sussex Street, every day since the start of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month that began March 22, according to the vice president of that congregation, Hasan Oren…After prayers, Zorba allegedly approached the imam and pointed at his tie, asking him, “Why are you wearing a tie? In our religion, you should not wear a tie.”