Which battle in 1187 preceded the fall of Jerusalem to Saladin?

The battle in 1187 that preceded Jerusalem’s fall to Saladin was the Battle of Hattin.

Fought on 4 July 1187 near Tiberias in Galilee, Hattin was a decisive Ayyubid victory over the army of the Kingdom of Jerusalem and its allies. Saladin’s forces trapped the crusader army in a hot, dry landscape, cut it off from reliable water and harassed it with mounted archers. Exhausted and disorganized, the crusaders were defeated around the twin volcanic peaks known as the Horns of Hattin.

The defeat destroyed much of the military power available to defend the crusader kingdom. King Guy of Lusignan was captured, the True Cross was lost, and leading nobles and military commanders fell into Saladin’s hands. Saladin then captured or compelled the surrender of much of the kingdom’s territory.

Jerusalem surrendered to Saladin on 2 October 1187, roughly three months after Hattin. The battle therefore did not itself take place at Jerusalem, a common point of confusion. Nor should it be confused with Montgisard, an earlier crusader victory, or Arsuf, a battle fought during the later Third Crusade.