A standard definition of majāz requires a clue that excludes the literal sense as intended. In kināyah, the literal sense can remain possible even when an associated meaning is chiefly intended.
“Having a long sword-strap” may suggest great height without denying the strap’s literal existence. By contrast, in “I saw a lion delivering a sermon,” the sermon context rules out the animal when a brave man is intended.
Thus figurative or indirect meaning alone is insufficient to classify an expression: the presence or absence of a literal-excluding clue matters.