The article examines the reception of L.N. Tolstoy’s ethical ideas in Kazakh literature of the late 19th - early 20th centuries through the works of Abai Kunanbaev and Shakarim Kudaiberdiev. Special attention is paid to the comparison of the concepts of “moral regeneration” and “conscience” in Tolstoy’s later writings and in Kudaiberdiev’s philosophical treatise Three Truths. Methodologically, the study is based on comparative-historical and hermeneutic approaches, which make it possible to reveal not only typological convergences but also cultural and religious differences in the interpretation of universal ethical categories. The analysis shows that Shakarim, unlike Abai, entered into a more direct and deliberate with Tolstoy, reinterpreting his ideas through the lens of the Kazakh Sufi tradition. The key concept of this reinterpretation is “uzhdan” (Kazakh for “conscience”, Russian: “sovest’”), which in Shakarim’s philosophy acquires the significance of a universal criterion for the immortality of the soul. The article contributes to the study of intercultural literary connections and may be useful for specialists in comparative literary studies, as well as for researchers of Russian-Kazakh literary relations.