Earth like a Carpet?

[Confused Ape]

Not a lot of grass in the desert, though.

Those are examples of metaphors. Everyone knows that grass isn't a carpet but, in the West where we have grass, a patch of grass can be likened to a carpet. It's why this metaphor is part of the English language.

The Quran saying that the Earth is like a carpet shows that Arabs living in the 7th Century also used metaphors.