BRAMPTON, Ont. - A leading expert in Islam testified Thursday that texts glorifying jihad seized from the home of one of the so-called Toronto 18 do not advocate violence against Canadians.

Mohammad Fadel, a University of Toronto law professor, took the stand as the final defence witness at the sentencing hearing for 22-year-old Saad Khalid.

Khalid pleaded guilty last month to taking part in a domestic terror plot that involved plans to detonate bombs at a number of high-profile locations, including the Toronto Stock Exchange and CSIS headquarters, over three days.

An agreed statement of facts entered into evidence earlier in the week show that on June 2, 2006, the day after Khalid was arrested, police carried out a search warrant at his home and seized a number of his personal belongings, including Khalid's laptop and a memory card.

The laptop and the memory card each contained five documents extolling the virtues of jihad.

Fadel told Khalid's lawyer, Russell Silverstein, that the documents were simply "moral arguments" in favour of jihad, not legal decrees that Khalid was bound to follow.

One text, "The Book of a Mujahideen," was written during the conflicts between Russia and Chechnya. It contained nothing that would incite a "reasonable reader" to commit violence in Canada, Fadel said.

A second document, "The Virtues of Jihad," was also geographically limited in scope, intended to recruit Muslims in Kashmir to fight against India. Even the most "incendiary" text found in Khalid's bedroom, one that singled out and criticized the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, did not urge Muslims to "blow up (non-Muslims') property and kill them in their own territories," said Fadel.

That text, "The Exposition Regarding the Disbelief of the one that assists the Americans," called upon Muslims to resist the invasion by fighting in Afghanistan, donating money, and praying for victory, he said.

"I think there are a whole host of targets that can be found in these texts," Fadel testified.

"I don't think Canada is one of those targets."

Khalid was arrested along with 17 others in the summer of 2006 as he was unloading a truck filled with what he believed was ammonium nitrate, court has heard.

The names of Khalid's alleged conspirators are protected by a publication ban. One member of the group, a youth at the time of his arrest, has already been convicted.

In that case, the judge said it was clear a terrorist group that adhered to al-Qaida principles existed.

Fadel tried to give the court a deeper appreciation of the meaning of jihad, pointing out its literal translation as a struggle that could be personal, political, or militaristic.

He said a Muslim with a knowledge of what jihad entails would better understand the texts found in Khalid's possession.

During cross-examination, Crown attorney Jason Wakely suggested that someone without Fadel's scholarly background might instead take the texts at "face value.""It's hard to understand what their face value is," Fadel replied.

Final arguments in the sentencing hearing were expected to begin Friday.