The article deals with determination of the place and role of Volga's Muslim people in religious politics implemented by Russian Empire in Kazakhstan in pre-revolutionary period. It is revealed that from the end of the XVIIIth to the beginning of the XXth "Tatar's problem" took one of the important places in the region's ethno-confessional connections. Namely Tatar, being Kazakhs' ethno-genetic relatives, started to pursue a policy aimed at administrative consolidation of Islam in the Kazakh steppe. Since the second half of the XIXth century, despite the restrictive measures of the state, they continued to propagandize Islamic ideas among Kazakhs, actively trying to involve them into All-Russian Muslim movement.

Key words: Islam, Tatars, Kazakhs, religious policy, Kazakhstan, Russian Empire, reform.