If a preventing contextual clue makes a literal reading impossible as an intended referent, the expression should not be classified as kināyah merely because it communicates indirectly. This is the crucial contrast with majāz.
For instance, “Raʾaytu asadan yakhṭub” — “I saw a lion delivering a sermon” — makes the referent a human speaker rather than an actual animal. The word “lion” is figuratively applied to a brave person.
By contrast, “ṭawīl al-nijād” does not structurally preclude an actual long sword strap. Indirect communication alone is not enough to collapse the two rhetorical categories.