I think the article has misinterpreted the facts a bit. The "Holy Carpet" it's referring to is the Kiswah, which is the cloth covering of the Kaaba in Mecca. Each year that covering is replaced. For many centuries the Kiswah was manufactured in Egypt, but this was ended by the Saudis who now produce it domestically at a cost of millions.

Each year the Kiswah is removed, and is typically cut into small pieces which are sold or given out as a memento of pilgrimage or to dignitaries or what have you.

Now, in terms of the context of the Ottoman declaration of Jihad, that was met with a very muted reaction throughout much of the Muslim world. It very much worried the British however, as the British empire at the time contained a majority of the world's Muslims. Egypt itself had been occupied since 1882.

That British anxiety was a large part of the reason why, starting in July of 1915, the British made a serious effort to have the Sherif of Mecca launch what would become "The Arab Revolt".

If I'm reading this article correctly (the syntax of that paragraph is weird) it's suggesting that there was a religious revival in Islamic lands, which led to the call to Jihad, which led to an unusually popular celebration of the procession of the Kiswah that year.

I don't think the declaration of Jihad reflected a religious revival. It was a political decision made by an Ottoman government that was, if anything, dominated by the CUP and the Young Turks who were basically secularists. Having the sultan declare Jihad was just another weapon in the war for them, and not a particularly effective one. As far as the declaration of Jihad leading to an expression of Egyptian nationalism and anti-British sentiment through a higher level of enthusiasm for religious festivals like the procession of the Kiswah that's possible, but not something I've come across in anything I've read on the subject.